Despite the fact that Days When I are about as original as a doughnut, they’re actually rather good. Pop-punk lite in style, they’ll go down very nicely with The Starting Line generation as despite the fact this five-tracker is self-produced it’s already better than a lot of the US clones that awash our airwaves with their banal drivel. But while the world doesn’t really need another Drive Thru wannabe, this Birmingham bunch do it extremely well. With two vocalists who sing very well and guitar riffs that chop and buzz, Days When I could quite easily carve their own niche into the UK scene if they put some hard graft into it.
Opener ‘No Words’ is a glorious dual-vocal attack on the senses, coming acros like Rufio grappling with The Starting Line and coming off well. There’s pace, power and technical ability and it all belittles their relative anonymity. Infact if the whole EP was as good as this song I’d be recommending them to friends at big labels. Sadly the EP isn’t consistently this good, instead falling into the realms of cliche and predictability. The token acoustic number ‘Shades of Blue’ reminds me of Antifreeze such is the way the American accents influence the vocals and the guitars build. It’s well performed and shows the band have a penchance for writing natty hooks, but it’s not as good as the previous number. ‘Unclear’ heads back towards Ken Vasoli’s mob with a bass-led intro cascading into driving guitars that are deliciously melodic, but the chorus fails to hit the spot as it comes across as a little too adventurous production-wise for a home recording. The dual vocals tend to cross each other a lot, resulting in the sound becoming a little muddy and the guitars tend to lose themselves in the mix.
‘Engine On’ suffers in the same way with the verses well thought out and executed, but the chorus sounds messy with far too much wailing for my liking. The screams during the outro fall into the ‘heard it all before’ category too, which is sad. DWI are to be congratulated for their attempts to create a rounded and wholesome sound, but on this track they take it a little too far. ‘Absent’ finishes things off well too, solid if unspectacular, but at least it shows immense promise. Days When I remind me of Scunthorpe’s Tomorrow Never Came – two bands that seemingly have all the ingriedients to really forge ahead with a career in the music biz, but just lack a little something which is hindering them. Days When I really have talent and this EP is a decent taster of what they can do. All they have to do now is gig their behinds off and keep developing as a band. 2004 could well be their year if they work at their game.
www.dayswheni.co.uk
Unsigned
Paul